Money-lender registration under the Act affects suit maintainability, and a later valid certificate can satisfy the requirement.

Section 11-F of the Central Provinces and Berar Moneylenders Act, 1934 penalises money-lending without a valid registration certificate, but the scheme of the Act does not render the underlying loan void. Registration is treated as a condition affecting the money-lender's ability to proceed with the suit, not the legality of the advance itself. A certificate that is valid and in force when the suit is pending satisfies Section 11-H, even if the lender did not hold it on the date of the loan transaction. The borrower is not given additional substantive protection merely from the registration requirement.

---

---

Issues: Whether a suit by a money-lender must be dismissed for want of a registration certificate relating to the date of the loan transaction, or whether production during the suit of a certificate then in force is sufficient compliance with the Act.

Analysis: Section 11-F of the Central Provinces and Berar Moneylenders Act, 1934 penalises carrying on the business of money-lending without a valid registration certificate, but it does not expressly declare loans advanced in breach of that requirement to be illegal or void. Read with Sections 11-H, 3 and 7, the scheme of the Act shows that registration is a condition relevant to the money-lender's right to proceed with the suit, not a condition that vitiates the individual loan transaction ab initio. The Court held that the object of the provision was only to secure revenue and that the borrower received no additional protection from registration. It further held that the words in Section 11-H require the money-lender to hold a valid certificate at the time the suit is to proceed, and that a certificate obtained and in force during the pendency of the suit satisfies the statutory requirement.

Conclusion: The suit is not liable to be dismissed merely because the money-lender lacked a certificate on the date of the advance, if a valid certificate is produced during the pendency of the suit.

---